Not Running Dolby with PS3 Games. Help..

[Pelican170]

Ok, I have posted something like this before, but still have no solid answer so let me try to explain this to the best that I can. Hopefully someone can help me. I have an onkyo 804 (a lil older now but runs HDMI 1.1) so here is my problem. When i play games, and only games, my receiver seems to switch to a multichannel pcm instead of the Dolby Digital which it should be running. If i go to the settings and uncheck all the codec options, (5.1 pcm 48 hz, 2.1 pcm....) and only leave Dolby Digital and DTS checked, then the receiver will play the games in Dolby Digital. At first I thought that maybe the Multichannel PCM was actually a DD, but after playing with this for a bit, I can clearly hear a difference in sound, and the DD sounds much better. Can anyone help me so that when it comes to watchign movies, i dont have to go and recheck the 5.1 pcm...?

[Pelican170]

Just trying to keep this alive to see if I can get any feedback.

[Meat]

I have noticed this as well. However, some of the new demos from the PSN (Devil May Cry and The Club) have Dolby Digital via HDMI. I am using a Pioneer Elite as a Pre/ Pro, so I would be interested to see if this is the case for only my setup. Try downloading those two and let me know.

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Just trying to keep this alive to see if I can get any feedback.

I am also curious about this.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by Meat

I have noticed this as well. However, some of the new demos from the PSN (Devil May Cry and The Club) have Dolby Digital via HDMI. I am using a Pioneer Elite as a Pre/ Pro, so I would be interested to see if this is the case for only my setup. Try downloading those two and let me know.

Yea, i actually downloaded Devil May Cry. Ill put the settings back to where most are checked and see if this works. Good to know im not the only one...

[LennDawg]

I have an Onkyo but i have the sound running through an Optical cable. Everything is working fine with me, and I have all the codecs checked. Sorry, I wasnt much of a help

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by LennDawg

I have an Onkyo but i have the sound running through an Optical cable. Everything is working fine with me, and I have all the codecs checked. Sorry, I wasnt much of a help

I never had this problem when i did have it running through optical cable. Its just very annoying and i wish i knew just why it is doing this. Thanks for the info anyways..

[WriteSimply]

To the OP: are you sure your receiver is processing 5.1/7.1 Multichannel PCM via HDMI? Some receivers need to be configured to receive that signal, otherwise it'll default to 2.0 signal. That would explain why you're not satisfied with your audio.

Basically, audio from the game is made up of the soundtrack and sound effects. With the exception of cut scenes which are pre-recorded, all of these sounds are mixed on the fly from uncompressed audio sources. If you are using multichannel input via HDMI, the PS3 simply pass the audio to your receiver.

If you are using optical or if you set audio output to Dolby Digital/DTS, the PS3 will encode the audio to Dolby Digital/DTS, both of which are lossy formats that are inferior to multichannel PCM, and output it via optical/HDMI.


fuad

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

To the OP: are you sure your receiver is processing 5.1/7.1 Multichannel PCM via HDMI? Some receivers need to be configured to receive that signal, otherwise it'll default to 2.0 signal. That would explain why you're not satisfied with your audio.

Basically, audio from the game is made up of the soundtrack and sound effects. With the exception of cut scenes which are pre-recorded, all of these sounds are mixed on the fly from uncompressed audio sources. If you are using multichannel input via HDMI, the PS3 simply pass the audio to your receiver.

If you are using optical or if you set audio output to Dolby Digital/DTS, the PS3 will encode the audio to Dolby Digital/DTS, both of which are lossy formats that are inferior to multichannel PCM, and output it via optical/HDMI.


fuad

Well, I do get 5.1 sound out of my speakers when its showing multichannel pcm on the receiver. Do you know how i would have to configure my receiver if this was the case?

[Go Blue]

I have also noticed this. The PS3 game may have a Dolby Digital logo on the back of the case, but when I play it through my Onkyo 605, through HDMI, it shows "multichannel" on the Onkyo's display. It is this way regardless of the PS3's audio output being LPCM or Bitstream. Also, I have never played a demo which came to my receiver as Dolby Digital, but I will try DMC4. I had always assumed the "multichannel" was better than "Dolby Digital" on my Onkyo's display. Am I wrong?

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by schultz

I have also noticed this. The PS3 game may have a Dolby Digital logo on the back of the case, but when I play it through my Onkyo 605, through HDMI, it shows "multichannel" on the Onkyo's display. It is this way regardless of the PS3's audio output being LPCM or Bitstream. Also, I have never played a demo which came to my receiver as Dolby Digital, but I will try DMC4. I had always assumed the "multichannel" was better than "Dolby Digital" on my Onkyo's display. Am I wrong?

Hey, that is exactly what mine is doing. Exactly. Well, i assumed the same thing, thinking it was an uncompressed. But, after thinking, i dont think they make games in uncompressed otherwise that would be noted on the back of the case, like they do with Dolby Digital. So this is when i started switching back and forth to see what sounded better. Ive done this a few time and i really think the dolby digital sounds clearer, and i notice it alot in the subwoofer sound. Maybe its my ears, but try it out when you get a chance and let me know....

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Well, I do get 5.1 sound out of my speakers when its showing multichannel pcm on the receiver. Do you know how i would have to configure my receiver if this was the case?

A receiver can process 2.0 signal into 5.1/7.1 sound using matrix decoding. This may or may not be what you are experiencing.

Like I said, you may not have the receiver set correctly. A good way to test it is to use a BD movie and change the audio tracks on one chapter. Uncompressed PCM or Dolby TrueHD (which will be decoded by the PS3) would sound better than Dolby Digital/DTS.

If you have the PS3 set correctly and you STILL find the audio lacking in multichannel PCM, then the problem may lie in the audio mixing program in the game.

Originally Posted by schultz

I had always assumed the "multichannel" was better than "Dolby Digital" on my Onkyo's display. Am I wrong?

No.


fuad

[WeApOn]

I know I've seen Dolby Digital displayed on my receiver whenever I play games that are on the harddrive, but it always always shows MPCM when I play a disc.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

A receiver can process 2.0 signal into 5.1/7.1 sound using matrix decoding. This may or may not be what you are experiencing.

Like I said, you may not have the receiver set correctly. A good way to test it is to use a BD movie and change the audio tracks on one chapter. Uncompressed PCM or Dolby TrueHD (which will be decoded by the PS3) would sound better than Dolby Digital/DTS.

If you have the PS3 set correctly and you STILL find the audio lacking in multichannel PCM, then the problem may lie in the audio mixing program in the game.

No.


fuad

Yea, I guess ill have to check. I have run the Uncompressed 5.1 (or thought that it was) but I should probably try to test this again, like you have mentioned. Shouldn't this play uncompressed 5.1 without having to matrix it, if its running thru hdmi? if not, do you know of any way that I would have to configure my receiver??

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

if not, do you know of any way that I would have to configure my receiver??

I would be lying to say that I would know, since each receiver comes with its own specific way of setting up things. Best bet is to read your receiver's manual and figure it out from there.


fuad

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

I would be lying to say that I would know, since each receiver comes with its own specific way of setting up things. Best bet is to read your receiver's manual and figure it out from there.


fuad

I figured you would say that. I will take a look and i have already sent an email to Onkyo regarding this. Thanks for your help..

[Meat]

I think the issue lies with the cable used...optical Vs. HDMI. I never noticed this issue until I swithched to HDMI, I donno.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by Meat

I think the issue lies with the cable used...optical Vs. HDMI. I never noticed this issue until I swithched to HDMI, I donno.

Yes, i agree with this. its very strange and really with i knew the answer.

[foots]

To me it sounds like when you are using a HDMI cable the PS3 is processing the DD signal internally and outputing the audio via PCM 5.1/7.1. The reason it doesn't do this with optical cable is that you can't get > 2.0 PCM through optical so it passes the DD bitstream to your receiver to be processed.

This would explain why when using your HDMI cable and you deselect all of your PCM options in the settings you are forcing the PS3 to send the bitstream (unprocessed) information to your receiver while playing a game. Thus it shows up as DD on your receiver display.

So why doesn't it do this while playing games off the hard drive? It is probably just different profile settings in the firmware (that sony hasn't allowed you to change). Similar to how the DVD upscaling only works on a disc and not on video played back off the hard drive.

Now why you are experience a different quality sound? I would think they would sound the same but the quality of the DACs in your receiver could be superior which could give you a slightly noticeable improvement in sound quality.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by foots

To me it sounds like when you are using a HDMI cable the PS3 is processing the DD signal internally and outputing the audio via PCM 5.1/7.1. The reason it doesn't do this with optical cable is that you can't get > 2.0 PCM through optical so it passes the DD bitstream to your receiver to be processed.

This would explain why when using your HDMI cable and you deselect all of your PCM options in the settings you are forcing the PS3 to send the bitstream (unprocessed) information to your receiver while playing a game. Thus it shows up as DD on your receiver display.

So why doesn't it do this while playing games off the hard drive? It is probably just different profile settings in the firmware (that sony hasn't allowed you to change). Similar to how the DVD upscaling only works on a disc and not on video played back off the hard drive.

Now why you are experience a different quality sound? I would think they would sound the same but the quality of the DACs in your receiver could be superior which could give you a slightly noticeable improvement in sound quality.

That is what I was leaning towards and makes sense. I will have to check the sound quality again to be sure that i correct, but im pretty sure that I did notice a difference. Thanks for you advise. This seems to be the closest to a solution so far...